Alberta Mama

I am! I think some of it is like brain washing.

I have an 8 year old step son who spends weekends with us. Last year we bought a new iMac computer. As soon as he saw it he exclaimed "Cool, it's a Mac!" He had no interest in my old iMac and his Dad's old computer. But he recognised my new computer's shape from all the Mac vs PC ads and knew that it was "cool" to have a Mac. I kind of grilled him on why it was cool, and essentially his best answer was because he saw on TV that it was cool.

When we went grocery shopping with him one day he told me that I should buy a certain oatmeal because it had the "Smart Spot." I was astounded by this and instantly gave him a big lecture on how the Smart Spot does not mean something is good for you, it just means that it is better for you than Pepsi is LOL. My husband is not concerned about this, but I am!

I feel like advertisers and designers are making things as simple and appealing to children as possible.

Everyone calls their baby something other than their name of course. Our daughter has been called Baby Bean, Grandma's Good Good Girl, Babykins, Dino Baby, Baby La-La, Oliviasaurus Rex, Baby Lady and Lady O. Most of those were used in her first few months. I called her Baby Lady and Baby La-la the most until I realised she only responded to being called "Baby" and not her actual name!

For a few months I made a point of calling her Olivia most of the time and she responds to her name now. I started calling her Silly Goose because she is silly! She likes the word Goose and gives me a HUGE smile whenever I say it. So I started calling her Baby Goose and then just Goose ... Now my Mom is calling her Goose too. I called her Goose when in line at a store and the lady behind me made a face like she thought my baby was actually named Goose! I realise it is not the cutest name and now I am worrying that this is the nickname that will stick and she will go to school and ask to be called Goose!

My daughter loves the song "Catch My Disease" by Ben Lee. I think she likes it because in the chorus they sing "Please, baby, please!" And I think she likes the cheesy xylophone sound in the background too LOL. She liked it when she was around 3 months old and I hadn't played it in months so I wondered if she still liked it so I put it on. As soon as the first few notes played she whipped her head around to look at the computer and smiled, so I think she still remembers it! She "dances" to it now that she is 10 months old.

My Dad has been in a band my whole life and when I was a baby and toddler he would use me to test music. If I would dance to a song then he knew drunk people at a wedding dance would too! LOL. He says I really liked ZZ Top stuff when I was a baby!

What's your babies favourite song? How old are they?

How do you rate this stroller?

What are the pros and cons?

Is the basket decent enough to fit some shopping bags into when at the mall? How does it manouver? Are you happy with the size of it when folded down? Does it work as well when the seat is reversed?

Please let me know anything about the stroller. I am looking for a new light-weight, small stroller and I was hoping this was the one! It isn't in any stores in my area yet so I can't go test drive it! I love the Frog and the Chameleon but passed on them because they are hard to fold down given that the seat has to be taken off, plus the basket is kind of weird. The Bee seems to have solved those two problems ...

Let me know if you like it, I am having trouble finding reviews on it online. I guess not many people have it!

We had a baby in March. We did not ask for any gifts and did not register anywhere. Our families don't really do any gift exchanges for Christmas and birthdays anymore so we didn't think it was appropriate to "ask" for baby gifts.

Of course, everyone insisted of getting us things. Some people asked about what we wanted or needed before-hand, but others just bought us stuff. We ended up with tons of duplicates and a lot of junk we did not want! A month after she was born we started advising that we only wanted gift cards from now on. No one seemed to listen to our request.

Now Christmas is coming. We pretty much have everything we need. So when people call to ask about gifts we have been advising that we would just like Gift Cards so we can shop when we need to. Most of our older relatives are turning their noses up at this idea again. How can we convince them this is best? I really don't want to have a house full of baby junk again and have to get rid of tons of useless things!

My Hubby and I are not actually married. We have been together for 3 years and plan to stay together forever, but don't really want to get married. We have a baby together. I don't like the fact that my daughter has a different last name than me. I was thinking of just changing my last name to his too, or hyphenating, although I have always been kind of against the hyphenating thing.

Last year a gay couple we are friends with got married (we live in Canada where it is legal) and they changed both their last names to a new one that they both picked out. They adopted two little boys this fall and changed the kids last name to theirs.

My Hubby recently asked me if I would like to do the same thing they did. I am undecided on whether to do this or not. My main problem is that he has a son who is 8 years old from a previous relationship and I think he will feel left out. His Mom is still super bitter and I am sure she will not consent to changing his name. What should we do?